Obedience Becomes Almost Automatic
by Ellen White
There is need of constant watchfulness, and of earnest, loving devotion: but these will
come naturally when the soul is kept by the power of God through faith. We can do nothing,
absolutely nothing, to commend ourselves to [354] divine favour. We must not trust at all
to ourselves nor to our good works; but when as erring, sinful beings we come to Christ,
we may find rest in His love. God will accept every one that comes to Him trusting wholly
in the merits of a crucified Saviour. Love springs up in the heart. There may be no
ecstasy of feeling, but there is an abiding, peaceful trust. Every burden is light; for
the yoke which Christ imposes is easy. Duty becomes a delight, and sacrifice a pleasure.
The path that before seemed shrouded in darkness becomes bright with beams from the Sun of
Righteousness. This is walking in the light as Christ is in the light. 1SM 353
The power of Christ alone can work the transformation in heart and mind that all must
experience who would partake with Him of the new life in the kingdom of heaven.
"Except a man be born again," the Saviour has said, "he cannot see the
kingdom of God." John 3:3. The religion that comes from God is the only religion that
can lead to God. In order to serve Him aright, we must be born of the Divine Spirit. This
will lead to watchfulness. It will purify the heart and renew the mind, and give us a new
capacity for knowing and loving God. It will give us willing obedience to all His
requirements. This is true worship. 9T 156
Love is the basis of godliness. Whatever the profession, no man has pure love to God
unless he has unselfish love for his brother. But we can never come into possession of
this spirit by trying to love others. What is needed is the love of Christ in the heart.
When self is merged in Christ, love springs forth spontaneously. The completeness of
Christ is attained when the impulse to help and bless others springs constantly from
within--when the sunshine of heaven fill the heart and is revealed in the countenance. COL
384
All true obedience comes from the heart. It was heart work with Christ. And if we
consent, He will so identify Himself with our thoughts and aims, so blend our hearts and
minds into conformity to His will, that when obeying Him we shall be but carrying out our
own impulses. The will, refined and sanctified, will find its highest delight in doing His
service. DA 668
Thus it is with the truly righteous man. He is unconscious of his goodness and piety.
Religious principle has become the spring of his life and conduct, and it is just as
natural for him to bear the fruits of the Spirit as for the fig-tree to bear figs, or for
the rose-bush to yield roses. His nature is so thoroughly imbued with love for God and his
fellow men that he works the works of Christ with a willing heart. PH048 12
All who come within the sphere of his influence perceive the beauty and fragrance of
his Christian life, while he himself is unconscious of it, for it is in harmony with his
habits and inclinations. He prays for divine light, and loves to walk in that light. It is
his meat and drink to do the will of his Heavenly Father. His life is hid with Christ in
God; yet he does not boast of this, nor seem conscious of it. God smiles upon the humble
and lowly ones who follow closely in the footsteps of the Master. Angels are attracted to
them, and love to linger about their path. They may be passed by as unworthy of notice by
those who claim exalted attainments, and who delight in making prominent their good works;
but heavenly angels bend lovingly over them, and are as a wall of fire roundabout them. RH
JAN.18,1881
It is in proportion as the heart is sanctified by grace, and filled with the active
love for God and for our fellow men, that we do nothing for show or by compulsion. Those
who love God do that which is pleasant for them to do, and that is to reveal God in
character, and submit the whole heart to the sanctification of the truth. RH OCT.08,1895
The children of God never forget to do good ... Good works are spontaneous with them,
for God has transformed their natures by His grace. RH SEP.8,1885 (ML 193)
If we consent, he [Christ] can and will so identify himself with our thoughts and aims,
so blend our hearts and minds into conformity with his will, that when obeying him, we
shall but carry out our own impulses. The will, refined and sanctified, will find its
highest delight in doing his service. ST NOV.19,1896
All our actions are affected by our religious experience, and if this experience is
founded on God and we understand the mysteries of godliness, if we are daily receiving of
the power of the world to come, and hold communion with God, and have the fellowship of
the Spirit, if we are each day holding with a firmer grasp the higher life, and drawing
closer and still closer to the bleeding side of the Redeemer, we shall have inwrought in
us principles that are holy and elevating. Then it will be as natural for us to seek
purity and holiness and separation from the world, as it is for the angels of glory to
execute the mission of love assigned them in saving mortals from the corrupting influence
of the world. Everyone who enters the pearly gates of the city of God will be a doer of
the Word. He will be a partaker of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that
is in the world through lust. It is our privilege to realise the fullness there is in
Christ, and be blessed by the provision made through Him. TDG 94 (1869)
He who draws nigh to Christ need not try to shine. As he beholds the Saviour, he
catches the divine rays of light from the Sun of Righteousness, and he cannot help
shining. The light that is in him shines forth in clear, bright rays, in words and works
of righteousness. UL 322
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